How to Install Agent Skills

Skills are just folders with a SKILL.md file. Installing one means putting that folder in the right place for your agent. Here’s where that place is for each tool.

The universal approach

Every agent reads skills from a specific directory. There are two scopes:

Project skills

Live inside your repo. Committed to version control. Available to everyone working on that project.

Personal skills

Live in your home directory. Available across all your projects. Only you can use them.

Download and save manually

The simplest approach — no CLI tools needed:

Find a skill on mdskills.ai and click the Download button on its detail page.
Create the skill folder in your project. For example, for Claude Code:
mkdir -p .claude/skills/my-skill
Save the file as SKILL.md inside that folder:
mv ~/Downloads/SKILL.md .claude/skills/my-skill/
Restart your agent (or start a new session). The skill is now available.

The folder name becomes the skill name. A folder called review-pr becomes the /review-pr command in agents that support slash commands.

Where to save? See the agent-by-agent guide below for the exact directory path for your specific tool. The short version: most agents use .<agent>/skills/<name>/SKILL.md in your project root.

Quick install with the CLI

The fastest way to install any skill from a GitHub repo:

# Install from mdskills.ai

npx mdskills install <skill-name>

# Or use the Vercel CLI

npx skills add <owner>/<repo>

# Or install manually — just clone and copy

git clone https://github.com/owner/skills-repo.git

cp -r skills-repo/my-skill .claude/skills/

CLI tools detect your installed agents and place skills in the right directories automatically. But you don’t need a CLI — copying the folder manually works just as well.

Agent-by-agent setup

Claude Code

Docs

Project:.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal:~/.claude/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Claude Code has the deepest skills support. Skills show up as slash commands — a skill named review-pr becomes /review-pr. Claude also loads skills automatically when your request matches a skill’s description.

If you have existing files in .claude/commands/, those still work. Skills are the newer format and support extra features like bundled scripts and frontmatter configuration.

Claude Code also supports plugins, which can bundle multiple skills together with MCP servers and other extensions. Install plugins via /plugins in the CLI.

Cursor

Docs

Project:.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal:~/.cursor/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Cursor launched its marketplace in February 2026 with support for skills as part of its plugin system. Skills are one of five plugin primitives alongside MCP servers, subagents, hooks, and rules.

You can also place skills in .agents/skills/ — this path is recognized by multiple agents and is a good choice if your team uses different tools.

VS Code (Copilot)

Docs

Project:.github/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal:~/.copilot/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

VS Code supports agent skills through GitHub Copilot. Skills go in .github/skills/ for project skills, which means they’re automatically tracked in version control alongside your code.

VS Code also recognizes .claude/skills/ and .agents/skills/. You can configure additional search paths with the chat.agentSkillsLocations setting.

Type / in the Copilot chat to see available skills and invoke them directly.

OpenAI Codex

Docs

Project:.agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal:~/.agents/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Codex uses the .agents/skills/ directory by default. This is the vendor-neutral path that multiple agents recognize, making it a safe bet if you’re publishing skills that need to work across different tools.

Gemini CLI

Docs

Project:.gemini/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Personal:~/.gemini/skills/<skill-name>/SKILL.md

Gemini CLI also reads from .agents/skills/ as a fallback. If you’re targeting Gemini CLI specifically, use the .gemini/skills/ path. For cross-agent compatibility, use .agents/skills/.

Cross-agent compatibility

If you’re publishing a skill and want it to work everywhere, use the .agents/skills/ path. Most agents check this directory as a fallback. For project-specific skills where your team all uses the same tool, use the vendor-specific path.

Tip: You can have the same skill in multiple directories. Some teams symlink their skills across paths so they work regardless of which agent someone uses. A simple ln -s does the job.

Verify it worked

After installing a skill, check that your agent can see it:

Claude Code: Ask “What skills are available?” or type / to see skills in the autocomplete menu.
VS Code: Type / in the Copilot chat pane.
Any agent: Ask “Do you have a skill for [task]?” and see if it picks up the description.

If the skill doesn’t show up, double-check the folder structure. The directory name must contain a SKILL.md file (case matters).

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